Debuting Sunday (June 22) at 8 p.m. on TNT, “The Last Ship” looks and feels and (mostly) sounds like a big-screen, action-adventure tale. Eric Dane (“Grey’s Anatomy”) stars as the captain of a Navy ship basically charged with saving the world, with the help of a couple of onboard scientists who might be able to stop a virus that’s eating up everybody on land.

“The mission is the struggle to find a way to stay alive long enough to bring the cure back, the vaccine back (to civilization, such as it is),” said Steven Kane, executive producer, during the Winter TV Tour. “So they have this other enemy they face in every episode, which is the invisible one, which is the virus itself.”

“The Last Ship” is the TV equivalent of the summer blockbuster, and despite the fact that there’s nothing here you haven’t seen before, TNT makes it fun to watch.

You almost don’t need to be told that this is a Michael Bay production - it has all the earmarks of his work: big special effects, big story, big performances and very few big words in the dialogue for the series, premiering Sunday.

“The Last Ship” is TNT’s powerhouse entry into the suddenly highly competitive summer season, where cable and broadcast networks have moved away from reruns and reality shows toward grand projects with A-list talent (NBC’s “Crossbones” with John Malkovich, CBS’ “Extant” with Halle Berry and FX’s “The Strain” from Guillermo del Toro). With Bay’s star power, an aggressive promotional campaign and a rumored budget hovering around $2.5 million per episode, TNT is — figuratively and literally — calling out the big guns.